In a press conference earlier this offseason, Jets coach Rex Ryan reached into his trusty bag of hyperbole to try to alleviate concerns about how the Jets would attract and retain talent on a team that spent 2012 doing its best impression of the Hindenburg.
Players all over the league want to play for the Jets, Ryan boasted, and we'd see that soon enough. Two days into free agency and it's looking like that's headed for a spot next to his plans to visit the White House in the big book of things Rex Ryan probably should have kept to himself.
Members of the Jets have been signing all over the league since free agency started on Tuesday and we're beginning to wonder if they're going to have enough players to actually hold practices later this year. Mike DeVito, LaRon Landry, Shonn Greene, Dustin Keller and Yeremiah Bell have all found new places of employment as players can't seem to make themselves former Jets soon enough.
None of this was unexpected, of course. Woody Johnson gave Mike Tannenbaum the keys to the kingdom and Tannenbaum used them to put together the kind of long-term fiscal operation that makes Congress feel good about itself.
But when you add that to the previous departures of Bart Scott, Eric Smith and Calvin Pace, you've got an untalented team that has said goodbye to pretty much all of its talent. And we haven't even gotten to Darrelle Revis yet.
The Jets leaked that they were still contemplating keeping Revis on Thursday, but that's more about public posturing than the truth. There's absolutely no reason to keep Revis and sign him to a huge, long-term deal now that the team is looking at 2015 or so as a point where their roster can be put in position to contend.
Keeping Revis at this point would be keeping your nose despite the total degradation of your face, a move of vanity instead of sanity. It looks like the Buccaneers are in the driving seat for a deal and the picks the Jets get will help them start on the road back to competence, but the road looks like a long and unhappy one.
Sports
At least they were able to hold onto Lex Hilliard. Every championship journey has to start somewhere and if a backup fullback who plays special teams doesn't scream better days ahead, then there might not be anything that does.
Josh Alper is also a writer for Pro Football Talk. You can follow him on Twitter.
